Promise Stitched in Blue
by Yaji's Girl
Summary: The night before the Cell Games, Chi-Chi realizes that her husband and only child have changed more than she could ever have imagined.


**I'm not a huge fan of writing romance, but I was asked to do a Chi-ChixGoku piece for the community I'm a part of (check it out if you're a GokuxChi-Chi fan!). This is one of the few stories I think I will ever write that has to be placed into two categories to feel right, as this is also about a family as a whole. But I must warn you, the romance aspect is extreme as far as I go, but I hope you enjoy this push to my own personal boundaries as a writer. I apologize if the thought processes seem sporadic, as I've written this over several weeks, bit by bit. Anyways, enjoy this extremely long one-shot!**

In a rare moment to be beheld at the Son household, all was silent. Chi-Chi was sitting all alone at the breakfast table, having cleared the dishes from breakfast and lunch hours ago. In fact, it had only just been thirty minutes prior that she had finished washing all of the dishes from even dinner. Now she was content with sitting in the darkness illuminated by a dim lamp standing in the corner, the yellow wood of the table giving off its familiar, polished sheen.

There were knitting needles in her hand and a ball of deep blue yarn resting at her dark slippers, lurking in the shadows of night. She wasn't certain of what she was making yet, but she hoped that she would know by the time a few more rows were stitched in. She had picked up this hobby of knitting from Bulma's mother, of all people, having never had a mother to learn from when she had been younger. And so the older woman had sat down and taught her, simply ecstatic that somebody wanted to pick up the practice, as Bulma had never lowered herself to doing what she considered to be menial housework. But Chi-Chi new better; it was this work that kept her own house running. It was what kept Chi-Chi running, as without anything to do, she felt worthless.

Of course, Bulma was learning what it meant to be a mother. It wasn't terribly long ago that she had had a child - a child of all things! And what had surprised Chi-Chi even more than the purple hair had been just who the father was. Yamcha had been the one to confide in her, as the two of them worked over her ailing husband's side when he had been plagued with heart disease, that the woman had indeed had a child. It had been years, she realized then, that she had last seen Bulma or Yamcha, and she couldn't help but hurt for the man as he informed her that it wasn't his own child. It was Vegeta's.

Chi-Chi had felt incredibly sorry for Yamcha, as he had lost the woman too free-spirited for himself. But as Chi-Chi watched Goku become better, she had begun wondering if she herself had begun losing her importance in the household. Certainly, she cooked and cleaned, but what was that to saving the world? And then Goku didn't even seem to listen to her anymore, taking to training their son against her will when he should have been studying. Gohan didn't need to be pestered with all of this training, hanging around delinquents all day. No, he needed a proper education if he was going to get anywhere in life.

But Goku had always pushed this matter aside, always insisting that he would have time to study later. But what was later? It seemed that every time peace settled in, another conflict found its way to tear the Earth apart. First it had been the Saiyans. Then it had been Frieza. And now, now it was those androids. There was that one named Cell, the one who was hosting this ridiculous tournament he deemed the Cell Games, who Goku had proposed Gohan fight.

And that was where Chi-Chi had firmly planted her foot down. She had originally told him that there was no way that her little boy would fight against some giant, green monster with a shiny exoskeleton. But then Goku had to take Gohan into that place called the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and when they had both come out glowing like delinquents, Chi-Chi knew that she had lost her son. There was no reasoning with Goku, who had seemed to have gone off the deep end this time. Whenever she expressed her concern for her only son, Goku simply laughed at her worries, resting a hand gently on her shoulder to assure her that everything would be fine. But she didn't care whether or not everything was fine - no, she wanted more than that. She wanted everything to be perfect. She wanted both of them to get back by suppertime, both of them alive. But Goku hadn't promised her even that much, putting her on edge to prepare for the worst to come.

The Cell Games were going to start the next morning, in which Goku and all of his delinquent friends would drag Gohan on to the battle scene, ready to risk their lives for that of the world. But Chi-Chi wasn't in charge of raising the world. Her only mission in life was to raise Gohan and to take care of her own family, not the countless others out there. So why did she have to share them? She realized this seemed selfish, but they were her family. She didn't want to lose Gohan, and she couldn't bear losing Goku again. That would break her.

But as Chi-Chi looked down and realized she had messed up one of the rows, she cleared her head of these distressing thoughts. She quickly undid the row and started over where necessary. Before she could really get back into the work and distract herself with mindless thoughts, such as what they would eat for dinner the next night assuming they live, she saw a faint glow out of the window. She knew that they were back.

She stood up from the wooden chair and leaned towards the corner, increasing the dim lamp's glow with a little click of a knob so that light encompassed the whole kitchen. She set her knitting needles carefully and stooped down to pick up the ball of yarn. Then, after placing that alongside her tools of work and patting her hair gingerly into place, she walked towards the front door. She turned the knob slowly and released a heavy sigh. But as she pushed the wooden door open, she forgot her momentary sorrow and immediately felt an anger kindle within.

"_GOKU!_" she screeched, a hand flying to her hip as she regarded the two Saiyans glowing in the night, both gulping guiltily. The two of them were covered in mud, having decided to spend their last night before the final match wading through a muddier part of a river under the intensity of the full moon. But though they had tried to wash themselves off, as they had decided to go through the river in full clothing, they had failed miserably. By using the filthy water in the cleaning process, they had only managed to dirty their clothes even further.

"Sorry, Chi-Chi," Goku said half-heartedly, knowing that this was one battle he had lost before even beginning. Sometimes there was no reasoning with Chi-Chi, and it was never smart to argue with her when it came to cleanliness. But he still tried to defend himself by explaining, "You see, Gohan and I tried getting the mud out of our pants, but it didn't work!" And this much was obvious, judging by the black smears across the bottom of his slacks, though Gohan's black pants were too dark to notice any dirt. It was the streaks of brown across Gohan's white smock that gave the sheepish demi-Saiyan away, forcing him to cower slightly under his mother's stern gaze.

But Chi-Chi replaced her angered stare with an expression of disbelief, uncertain of what she would do with her husband and son. She rested her face in one of her palms, shaking her head before muttering, "You wait there, Goku. Gohan, you're coming with me."

Gohan's shoulders were slumped with the disappointment of being separated from his father, but with an encouraging prod on the back, he reluctantly stepped forth. However, he was stopped from physically entering the house by his own mother, who said, "Nuh uh. I'm not letting you track mud through my house. Strip down, mister." Gohan's face turned pink with humiliation at this demand, gaining a hearty laugh on Goku's part. But the older man was quickly silenced by Chi-Chi saying, "You just wait 'til it's your turn." And that was enough to shut him up, with the force she had threatened him.

By the time Gohan had gotten to his boxers, Chi-Chi stepped outside by the two of them and stopped him from undressing any further with a firm hand on the shoulder. Gohan sighed with relief, thinking that he was free now, until he found himself tucked under his mother's arm. She had managed to pick him up with some difficulty, but he was small enough for the strong woman to get by. She still worked out from time to time for situations such as this, and she would not risk the carpeted floor in the hallway getting tracks on it just because her son had decided it would be fun to trek through a stagnant river. She huffed and ignored Goku's laughing, realizing that she was shaming her son in front of his own father. He was a deep red now, though he didn't protest as his mother carried him through the house. He didn't even remind her that he could simply fly through the house, as that might incite some hidden rage.

The two of them reached the tiny bathroom leading off of the infamous carpetted hallway, housing a pedestal sink, a toilet, and a small bathtub. As she set Gohan back down on his feet, the first words he heard from the boy were, "Dad said that we were gonna bathe together, tonight."

"No way," Chi-Chi said, kneeling on the ground and turning the handles to start the water running in the bathtub. Water began pouring out, and as she adjusted the temperature by switching between the hot and cold valves, she added, "I don't want you going out on television tomorrow looking grimy, and I know that you and your father do a terrible job scrubbing behind the ears."

"On television?" Gohan asked, blinking a few times. "You mean... you're okay with me going tomorrow?" He regarded his mother carefully as she ran her hand through the pouring water, wanting it to be just the right temperature for her little baby. It was unbelievable that she would give in like that, seeing as she had been so persistent to keep him as far away from Cell as possible. It was a miracle. They had spent the whole night plotting for nothing.

Chi-Chi didn't reply to this right away, as she wasn't certain of how to explain her seeming change of heart. It wasn't a change of heart at all, but there was something about the way that her son was standing there, only in his boxers, that made her feel that perhaps Goku was right. Gohan had seemed to be a completely different person after that day, really a year, in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. But she didn't confess that she though perhaps her son was growing up. Instead, she finally sighed, "Yes, you can go." She still didn't like it, but she knew that there was no alternative. Along with her realization that perhaps this wasn't the same baby she had coddled a decade before, she also knew that there was no way to fight a Saiyan and a demi-Saiyan. If both he and his father were determined to go, it was physically impossible for her to stop them.

The child she knew only two weeks ago would have wrung her around the neck and kissed her cheek in his enthusiasm. This adolescent Gohan, this almost foreigner after a year of training, did no such thing, though. Instead, he stood there rather awkwardly and simply bobbed his blond head, muttering, "Thanks, Mom." And that was the end of this conversation, with no other exchange between the two. This was the first one-on-one time Chi-Chi had spent with her son since his time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but something felt strange about it.

Now she almost felt embarrassed for having carried this young man across the household to his father's amusement. Unlike Goku, there seemed to be a certain dignity in the way that Gohan was holding himself, a certain pride in the air that stirred about him. He seemed to be far too mature for her motherly games, and his cheeks were still marred with a rosiness from his own embarrassment. He had grown up more during that year than Goku probably had throughout his entire life, something that was strange to Chi-Chi. No, he wasn't the same boy he had been only two weeks ago.

Chi-Chi stood back up after finishing the adjustments to the bath temperature and glanced towards Gohan, who still hadn't slid out of his boxers. She cocked an eyebrow at the nervous expression on his face, but before she could ask why he wasn't undressing, he blurted out, "Mom, do you mind if I... I bathe myself tonight?"

He fidgeted anxiously, knowing that his mother wouldn't like such a request. She would talk about how he didn't know how to scrub hard enough to get the scum off or how he didn't ever work his shampoo up into a real lather. But ever since his time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he didn't want to be seen so exposed underneath his mother's gaze. It was a fear he had developed since about halfway through his year away, and it almost seemed to have come overnight. To be seen by a woman now seemed so terrible, like a test. Or even homework. He didn't understand how his father could stand being seen naked by his mother before hopping into the large tub outside every other night.

To his surprise, though, his mother replied, "Not at all." He stared in shock at her, his cheeks a violent red at his fear. There was a strange gleam in his mother's eyes before she turned away, resting a hand on the doorknob. And with her back still towards him, she quickly reminded him, "But don't forget to scrub behind the ears. And I don't know how a Super Saiyan washes his hair, but don't leave any strand untouched."

"Got it," he mumbled, almost shaking with nerves. He just wished his mother would leave him, because each passing second's length seemed to increase exponentially. He just wanted to get into the tub while it was still warm, but he didn't want to until his mother left. There was something that frightened him, being in that same bathroom as his mother.

Chi-Chi gave one last, hard look over her shoulder before opening the door by its squeaky hinges, her parting words being, "I'll check on you before you go to sleep, okay?"

And Gohan simply nodded, shivering now with anticipation. He watched his mother give one last, weary smile before the door clicked closed, signaling for the young demi-Saiyan to jump out of his boxers and into the bathtub. He was still red, having never gone through such an awkward conversation before. But from what Krillin had warned him on Namek years before, there were apparently worse conversations to come.

On the other side of the door, Chi-Chi released a heavy sigh as her smile faded. Her boy really wasn't a boy anymore. He was eleven, yes, but he was already getting to be that age in which he wanted to take matters into his own hands. And she had missed the in-between stage, the distinguishing part of life that separated boys from little men. That had to have happened in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Only two weeks ago, when he wasn't a golden-haired delinquent, Gohan wouldn't have minded his mother helping him get some of the harder-to-reach places. But now, now he was embarrassed, of all things.

She closed her eyes and shook her head as she heard a plop from the bathroom, meaning that Gohan had finally made his way into the tub. She released a heavy sigh and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear that had escaped from her tight bun, too fatigued to put it back up into its meticulous knob. She still had somebody else to tend to that night, and she needed all of the strength she could muster to tackle this next project.

After one more sigh, unable to believe that her little boy had grown up so much in such a short amount of time, she pried her back from the wooden door and made her way back down the hallway, not caring as she dripped a little warm water from her hands on to the carpeted floor. She simply busied those hands by drying them on her dress, already ruffled from a busy day of housekeeping.

She patted down on her dress as she reached the house's small foyer. She stopped briefly to glance down at a picture frame featuring her son, only four-years-old at the time with that large red hat adorning the four-star Dragon Ball. Her hand trailed over the top of it, but she didn't move to pick it up. Instead, her head swung the other way so that she was looking into the kitchen. The lamp shone strongly now after she had turned it up a notch, and the light was cast upon the ball of yarn and its unfinished product, whatever it would be. She stared at it with a burning determination to finish it soon, but she couldn't at the moment. She had another Saiyan to take care of now.

Her head jerked away from the kitchen's direction as she focused on the front door once more. Her paces were slow as her slippers gently tapped against the tile of this floor, and for a vague reason, she felt her heartbeat hasten. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what the cause of this rush of adrenaline was, but something in her pounding heart told her there were multiple causes. There was the worry with her family facing an android monster the next day. There was the shock of her little boy having grown up in such a short amount of time. But there was also this fear, this fear of facing Goku alone for the first time since his return from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Certainly, they had talked some during the few moments they were together, but this night would be different. Something in her heart told her that this night would lead to more than a simple conversation of what the future held for their family.

Chi-Chi tentatively pushed against the door, only cracking it so far so as to gain a glimpse of her husband. She saw him slumped over, sitting on the grass with his face resting in his hands. He had been looking up towards the stars of the night sky, but her ki must have spiked with her anxiety, and he quickly spun around to meet her eyes. With a lopsided grin on his face, he waved his hand and said, "Hey, Chi-Chi! Did Gohan already have his bath?"

He stood up to greet her, and she instinctively shrunk back with his height. Something about his golden hair standing up on ends made him seem so much taller than before, making him all that much more foreign to her. But she regained her composure and replied rather quietly, "He wanted to bathe himself tonight."

"Hmm, that's weird," Goku said, a finger tapping his chin as he stared upwards rather ambivalently. "He never minds me helping him." There was a slight pause after this remark as Chi-Chi searched for something to say to this, but he saved her the trouble by adding, "I guess he thinks you must smell, Chi-Chi!"

It took her a moment to register that he was just joking around with her, and even then, she only managed a sliver of a smile. But her reaction was so belated that Goku caught on to her unhappiness, and his carefree expression became one of concern. She watched his forehead furrow and his blue eyes glint with darkness as he asked, "What's wrong, Chi?" And even his tone had deepened, losing its richness and becoming more formal. More foreign.

"Oh, nothing," she attempted to assure him as she stepped out and into the night, shutting the door behind her. She placed a hand to her forehead and lied, "I'm just feeling a little sick tonight, that's all."

Goku's face softened as he watched her walk a little ways past him, and he immediately offered, "I can set up that bath tonight, then, Chi. I don't mind."

His innocent eyes widened, then, as she turned her head back over her shoulder to look at him incredulously. "You think you're getting a bath when you're that dirty, Goku?" She stopped in her tracks and, with a second wind, placed her hands on her hips. "There's no way I'm going to clean out the bath with all of that mud in it. Nu uh. No way. No, Goku, you've earned yourself a little trip to the river."

"The river?" he asked, quickly catching up with her as she continued moving forth. "But I got dirty in the river!"

"That's because you played in the muddy part of it," she explained breezily, feeling her strength return as they continued walking along, her husband to her right. "If you clean yourself in the rockier part, you won't get all of that mud on you. Right?"

But this point was met with silence, Goku following a step behind her rather obediently. Finally, though, in a rather quiet and confidential voice, he admitted, "But the rocks on the bottom of the river hurt my feet."

Chi-Chi released a frustrated sigh before turning around and snapping in as gentle a voice as she could, "Well, that's why you don't play in the mud! Gohan can take a bath inside because he's a boy, but you're a full-grown man, for Kami's sakes! You should be working, not playing around!" And as quickly as it was released, it was bottled back inside, and she immediately felt guilty for this lashing as Goku's expression fell.

"Sorry, Chi, I didn't mean to make you upset," he said, his shoulders slumping slightly as they made their way down a narrow, dirt path. She glanced back to face him, having never seen a Super Saiyan look so dispirited. And her heart was tugged at as he tried to explain, "I just wanted Gohan to have some fun before going against Cell tomorrow."

The rest of their trek was silent as each parent thought over their little boy and his coming challenges. Goku had never directly stated that Gohan would face Cell one-on-one, but he had hinted at it often, jerking Chi-Chi. But she said nothing, knowing that her complaints about her son's safety would mean nothing in the end. She would have her last fit the next morning about how she didn't want Gohan fighting this monster, but she knew it was coming. There was nothing she, simply a human and the wife to a Saiyan, could do. Now she felt particularly lowly, and as she closed her eyes, she felt herself connect to Yamcha. At least she had come this far in this game of Saiyans and aliens - Yamcha hadn't even managed to make it past the first round.

They finally reached the river bank, rocky just as Chi-Chi had promised. She watched as Goku stepped hesitantly before her and, as he looked back with pleading eyes, grimaced. "Do I have to, Chi?" he asked, a bit of whine in his voice. But he could only cringe at the stoic expression on her face, and he hastily turned his back towards her once more.

Chi-Chi's eyes softened, though, as she darted them away rather bashfully. Blood quickly flowed to her face and she felt her toes curl as Goku began stripping himself of clothes, beginning with the top of his gi. She knew she shouldn't have been ashamed to watch, but this man didn't feel like her husband. The boy in the bathtub at home didn't feel like her son. They both felt like strangers assuming the shells of Goku and Gohan, having the same voices and the same love of food, but they lacked that dark hair she loved to brush through, getting out all tangles that came with a day of training. They lacked the same warm eyes she could stare into for minutes at a time, so comforting as she realized another soul could connect with hers. And worst of all, they lacked their calming air about them. Now, even when playing around, it was all a matter of business. This was about the world, not their small family.

Her blush became more prominent as she dared to look up, her fists subconsciously clenched into nervous balls as though to subdue herself. She couldn't help but stare at the man now with awe as his golden hair shed light upon every contour of his backside. Her transfixed gaze was pressed to his naked torso as his large fingers fumbled at the knot of the sash tied around his waist, and he was too absorbed in this menial task to notice his wife. She held bated breath, wondering just what had come of her husband since he had come out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. He hadn't slept with her since his return, seeing as he felt uncomfortable sharing a bed with a weak human such as herself while staying in such a powerful state. And when she did see him shirtless, he was either moving too quickly for her to get a good glimpse or he was too far away for even her strong eyes to watch. But now he was only a few yards in front of her, and she could see just how much bulkier he was in this form with the soft glow of his body in the dark of night. This wasn't the same, lean man she had married so many years ago. This was a Super Saiyan.

She quickly averted her eyes as the man finally managed to tear the blue sash off. Then to her horror, he turned around as he began stepping out of his pants, waving his prized belt through the air and calling heartily, "It looks like I broke this one, Chi!" But the smile on his face as he allowed his orange pants to fall to the ground, revealing a pair of boxers, slipped into one of concern for the second time that night. He noticed how his wife was turned away from him, a hand cupped over her face to keep her traitorous eyes from sneaking a peek at the man. He immediately stepped forth and came closer to the woman with cautious footsteps. His voice lost its bounciness she loved, and in that foreign voice that scared her so much, he asked, "Are you alright?"

His voice was tender, but it held a severity that Chi-Chi wasn't used to hearing from her husband. It wasn't like Goku to be so serious, but ever since this whole Super Saiyan transformation, ever since that whole business of being in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he wasnt' the same man she had married. He was somebody new that she hadn't wanted to marry, because she loved Goku for his carefree spirit. Without that, Goku simply wasn't Goku.

In an attempt to relieve her worried husband, she unshielded her face by lifting it out of her hands. This, however, proved to be a mistake. As she looked up, shock jolted through her and she jumped back, surprised to see her husband only a foot away from her. He had been about to lower a comforting hand to her shoulder, but her leap had him retract his hand before it even came close. His blue eyes widened and his breathing hitched as he watched her eyes trail up his body, from his toes all the way up to his head, until her dark eyes met his own blue ones. And there, her own fear coursed through his own blood now.

"I-I'm fine," she replied shakily, cowering slightly at this tall man. She flinched before pulling her stare away, looking at the ground axs she stood back up to her full height, which was still a head and a half shorter than her husband's. "I-I'm really, really fine." She patted nervously at her dress, pressing down creases that had been pressed down many times earlier that day. "Y-you just gave me a scare, that's all." And that was true enough, as she hadn't expected the Saiyan to have come in such close proximity of her.

"Are you sure, Chi?" he pressed her, giving a slight lick to his chapped lips as his hands fell back to his sides. Something seemed wrong, he thought, with this sudden anxiety his wife was displaying. Mood swings were normal on her part, but they would normally result in her throwing a temper tantrum. This was strange. What was he supposed to say when his wife was acting as though she was afraid of him?

He noticed how her dark eyes darted anywhere his were not, and display his care for the woman, he dared to reach forth. But this time, his hand was not aimed to land on her shoulder as his earlier attempt had been. No, it was a subtle motion, but he somehow managed to clasp a few of her thin fingers around his stockier ones. His thumb ran over the backside of the woman's delicate hand, and he lifted his eyes to finally see an exposed emotion on his wife's face. Her pupils were dilated in a way that allowed him to see that this fear was not simply being used to cover up another emotion, perhaps one of shame, perhaps one of guilt. No, what he saw in her eyes was a raw fear even as he lifted her hand ever so slowly, closing it within his larger one.

"Chi?"

His voice had become quiet as though he was treading on fragile ground now. It cracked slightly with this one syllable as the Super Saiyan spirit of the man washed away to reveal the affection of the man she had fallen in love with. He could make out the heavy hammering of her heart, each thud making a lasting impression upon the man's confused mind. But Goku allowed his furrowed forehead to relax, those blond eyebrows of his not knitted so closely together, as he repeated, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Chi-Chi was now quite uncertain of what to do or say. Her chest pounded with an impulse to simply slip from his grasp and flee from this stranger, this man she didn't know. Half of her mind was contemplating just how she would make that escape, seeing as he was holding her with enough of a grip to keep her in place. But the other half, the half controlled by emotion, kept her rooted to the spot. It was this half that noted a fluctuation of the Saiyan's tone, a subconscious drop of the shoulders to show that he wasn't on guard anymore. And it was this half of her mind to finally snap, breaking the dam that held back all of those unsaid feelings that had begun coursing through her mind throughout the night.

It was Goku's turn to jump back in surprise, almost powering down from the sheer shock as Chi-Chi leapt forth at him. He released her hand as each muscle of his body tensed up, prepared to react to this by pulling out a Kamehameha wave. But Chi-Chi was no enemy, he had to remember, even as she pressed her face against his bare chest and beat against it furiously with her fists, yelling through dry sobs, "What in Kami's name is wrong with you? Why did you and Gohan have to go into that room and come back out and change so darn much?"

It shouldn't have surprised him so badly that Chi-Chi was reacting in anger, but he still didn't understand exactly what she was reacting to. He had simply asked her if she was okay, and now this? He grimaced nervously, his hands held up in the air innocently as he darted his gaze up towards the sky, listening as she continued harshly, "I didn't want my little boy to grow up, but now he's a little man! And I didn't even get to see it happen! And now you've gotten so darn confident and so darn serious and I just don't know you anymore!" He gulped, holding his arms back rather awkwardly, as she dug her face further into his chest, the beginnings of tears latched onto her dark lashes splattering as they made contact with him. "You come out looking like you just got done in the toaster, and you don't even talk to me! I've been so lonely, Goku - so lonely - with you being so close but... but so far away..." And her tone was already losing its fiery substance as she became blinded by the tears streaming from the rims of her eyelids.

"And you-" she gave another pound against his chest, this one halfhearted after the furious ones she had delivered earlier "-you're so different. There's something about you, something more than just your hair and your eyes, that's changed." Another blow to beat against him, and he finally brought his focus back on her, those guilty blue eyes widening at this mention. "It's always been about fighting, but now it's more than that. I'm just not important anymore in your life, not when you've got all of those delinquents that... that want to fight you."

She sniffled a bit here, and because she refused to retract her face from her husband's protective body, she brought her sleeve up to her nose and staunched the dribble of snot from her nostril, not caring as she soiled her clean clothes that evening. No, she would put aside her constant worries about cleanliness for this conversation, not even noticing the skirts of her dress as they trailed against her husband's muddy legs.

"I just want you here, Goku." Her voice was so quiet now that Goku almost had to strain to hear it, flinching as her lips brushed against the surface of his skin. And this sudden tenseness of his body was not helped as she allowed one of her small fists to flatten against one of his pectorals, the other still underneath her runny nose. "I want you here, and I want you the way I know you. I want to see that same smile I knew when we were kids." Her own body shivered at this confession as she closed her eyes, leaning against his chest with a nervous sense of comfort. Memories of his younger, more youthful face, even from only five years before, before this whole Super Saiyan nonsense, flashed through her mind. She gave another sniff before continuing, a fresher batch of tears springing up with this nostalgia, "I loved you when you were here for me, and now... now..."

She trailed off, leaving Goku completely speechless. There was nothing that this man, savior of the Earth as he might be, could think of when set into this particular type of combat. He was simply left to stare down at this woman, somehow also transformed since their marriage. But she didn't go Super Saiyan or use Kaioken in this transformation. Instead, she had been transformed by her own fears, her own sorrows, her own grievances, all of which she kept to herself to allow him the fun of saving the world. This struck him, and for once, he found that not even his eternal hunger could distract him from this precious moment.

Using rigid motions and immediately losing the confidence and cockiness that characterized his Super Saiyan form, he allowed his hand suspended in midair to fall rather clumsily around her hips. He held her gingerly against him, as though he was in charge, but knowing that she would have to be the one to make the next move. As much as he hated to think it, Master Roshi was really quite right. The only weakness to a Super Saiyan was his wife.

The few strands of black hair that had escaped Chi-Chi's bun trailed against Goku's chest as she finally pulled her head away, looking straight up towards his gentle face. She pushed off of him gently so that they had the slightest distance between them, Goku's hands moving along with her body, so she could gain a better view of him. His expression lit by the faint glow of his hair was so tender, even with those piercing, blue eyes so foreign to the woman, that she couldn't help but remember what it felt to be loved.

Goku's heart jerked as he saw her face, seeing just how flushed it was, save for the ruby red nose with the snot dripping from it. The skin around her eyes were bright pink from tears, and even the whites of her eyes showed little veins of stress around their rims. It was a pathetic sight, one that Goku never hoped he would have to see. It bothered him so much to see her in such a state that he removed one of his hands from her hips and used it to press her face back against him, almost a comforting gesture had it not been for its intent. He couldn't see her like that; if Goku could feel pity for the worst villain's in the world, how would he react when he felt that same emotion for his wife? He inhaled deeply, his own eyes closed as he tried ridding that face from his mind. He wanted to know Chi-Chi as the happy, albeit slightly insane, woman he fell in love with. To see her so weak made him weak.

Chi-Chi noticed this change in breath on her husband's part, but she couldn't lift her head to look at him with his hand clamped so fiercely against the back of her head, her bun coming apart underneath his grip. So with her face smothered against his chest, the man not even realizing the force he was using as he was too preoccupied with thoughts of this new, broken Chi-Chi, she murmured, "Goku?"

There was another tremor through Goku as he felt her lips brush against him once more, though he didn't react right away. Instead, he allowed his other hand to stealthily slide from her flank to the small of her back, forcing her even further against him. But before she could complain, or struggle, or confess how much she enjoyed this act of power he was exerting over her as absentminded as it may have been, his words came slowly and meaningfully from a scratchy throat, "I won't leave you, Chi-Chi."

Then there was a pause in which neither of them did anything except appreciate the presence of their spouse. Finally, though, Goku was the one to break the silence by continuing in a throaty voice, sore with this anguish, "I'm sorry for changing, but I won't leave you, Chi-Chi. I don't know what'll happen tomorrow, but I promise, I'll do what's best for us all."

"For the world, or for me?"

And tears, warm this time, trailed down Goku's chest more readily than their predecessors. He clenched more tightly at the bun tied rather loosely now, more strands of hair escaping from it. It was difficult to believe that she would even have to ask such a question, bringing him to reply in a tone more passionate than had ever left his lips, "For you."

The determination in his voice was so forceful that it was strange for Goku to lessen his grip around Chi-Chi as he did, allowing it to slacked around her wavy hair and around her tiny backside, but those two words drained the strength out of the man. However, his wife was ready, and as soon as his own body failed to keep its grip on her, she made up for it. Readily and with a show of love she hadn't used in many years, she wrapped her arms around his neck, slowly pulling him down to her own height for one kiss to seal the promise.

This was more than her, though, she would come to realize weeks later as she sat down at the Briefs' house, enjoying a cup of tea with Mrs. Briefs as the two worked on their knitting projects. This was the world at stake, and Goku was too noble to allow it to go to ruins, even if it would mean allowing his wife to go that same path. Her heart would seize as she would stare down at the pair of blue socks she was knitting for the coming baby conceived that very night, wondering just why Goku had to do this to her. Life would have been so much easier had he simply stayed on Earth, stayed with the son he had altered beyond recognition, stayed with his unborn son, and stayed with her.

But if Chi-Chi had wanted life simply handed to her, she wouldn't have married a Saiyan.


End file.
